The House Appropriations Committee has proposed a State Department budget with significant cuts of 14 percent.  However, those proposed cuts are only half of the proposed “deep state” spending cuts in President Donald Trump’s budget outline.

WASHINGTON DC – […]  The panel’s spending bill for State and Foreign Operations which includes State Department funding and other agencies and programs is $47.4 billion, an overall 17 percent cut. That figure includes $12 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding that does not count toward budget caps.
The cuts, while deep, are less severe than those proposed by President Trump in his budget. The president’s blueprint would have cut State’s funding by roughly twice as much. (read more)

It might be challenging to see what this budgetary angle is to the larger aims of the Trump administration, but the spending proposal of the Trump administration is actually targeted toward a larger objective of swamp draining.  And therein, we find the entire apparatus of the administrative state, ‘deep state’, UniParty pushing back.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Doha Qatar to discuss the ongoing issues between the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and the government of Qatar for their support of the Muslim Brotherhood, writ large, and the various extremist affiliates therein.
There is a strategic geopolitical shifting taking place; with a specifically directed and simultaneously coordinated multi-continent-encompassing foreign policy of the Trump administration taking place.  It takes elevation to see it and we will attempt to explain it later.

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[Transcript] FOREIGN MINISTER AL-THANI: (In progress) (Via interpreter) — at the trilateral level between the United States and Qatar, then a trilateral meeting with the presence of our brothers in Kuwait to discuss the latest developments in the Gulf crisis and the appreciated efforts by our brothers in the state of Kuwait and the help of our friends in the United States.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Ukraine earlier today and held a joint press conference with President Poroshenko.
In the face of 2017’s insufferable and manipulative media opposition, united to retain leftism, support globalism and embrace totalitarianism, T-Rex has a tough messaging job on behalf of the freedom/liberty voice, and he does it well.

[Transcript] PRESIDENT POROSHENKO: (Via interpreter) Dear Mr. Secretary of State, dear members of the delegations, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to welcome Mr. Rex Tillerson today here in Ukraine. Your arrival, dear Mr. Secretary of State, is a follow-up of those arrangements that we reached in Washington during my meeting with the President of the United States, the Vice President, and many top-rank officials of the new administrations, where we received a clear message in support of Ukraine – support of its sovereignty, territorial integrity, of our independence; support of our reforms. And we really appreciate that today the support is practically implemented as you’re coming to Ukraine.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin outline the past 48 hours of diplomatic discussions within the framework of the G20.

**Remember** as you read this transcript, e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g eventually boils down to economics and the seismic geopolitical shifts currently underway.  (See Bottom for Important Detail)

[Transcript] 7:18 P.M. CET – SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Hi, everybody. I just want to highlight very briefly, and then Secretary Tillerson will go on, and then afterwards we’ll both answer a few questions.

But President Trump has had a very, very significant few days. I think, as you know, we went to Poland on Wednesday. In Poland, he met with 12 different leaders. We had bilats with Croatia and with Poland, as well as 10 other leaders at the Three Seas Conference where we talked about energy — the importance of the energy markets, the importance of supplying independent energy, infrastructure and opportunities there. I think, as you know, the speech which was just incredibly well-received, is part of our “America First But America Not Alone.”

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hold an off camera press conference to debrief media on the sideline discussions within the G20 meetings.   T-Rex outlines the content of the Trump/Putin meeting at length.

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for 2 hours and 15 minutes extending their conversation by four times the length anticipated.  Both leaders covered a lot of geopolitical ground. The length of the meeting has U.S. media in meltdown mode.

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*Note* Until today virtually no-one was emphasizing the important role of Secretary Mnuchin amid all of the international issues. Again, we remind everyone, against international finance issues -including economics- Mnuchin plays the largest national security role in the cabinet. Tillerson, Mnuchin, Ross, Mattis, Kelly et al are all in sync with the larger President Trump approach toward ‘America-First’ policy and security.

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A “SME” (pronounced ‘smee‘) is a Subject Matter Expert.   President Trump’s entire cabinet is an assembly of specific SME’s for a specific economic purpose.

The entire landscape of modern geopolitics is an assembly of various nations specifically focused on their economic interests.  Fundamentally, the economics of a nation is the cornerstone for their ability to hold, advance, influence and present their ideology.

Without the underlying economic capability to provide sustainability and stability, the nation, any nation, cannot maintain itself regardless of the underlying political outlook.  In short, as the old verse presents: “money makes the world go ’round“.  Everything boiled down to it’s essential core – is about economics.

The shock to the system of modern multinational financial interests was created by an earthquake known as Trump; which created a seismic shift via the 2016 U.S. presidential election outcome.

The tectonic political and economic shift was so unsettling to the global elites -who created a decades-long system of global financial interests- they have been thrashing around desperate to regain footing ever since.

All modern political alliances are based on this economic reality, and every single action taken by every member within each grouping is based on their affiliated and interconnected self-interest in the underlying economic equation.

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered a statement on the situation in Syria just prior to leaving for the G20 Summit.  That statement surrounds the reality that ISIS is almost defeated, they are down to less than a few miles of occupied space within their control.  That statement follows the video.

En route to the G20, and against the backdrop of the released statement, Secretary Tillerson delivers a short presser about expectations of the discussion between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin:

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State Department Statement – Rex Tillerson: Before I depart for the G20 summit in Hamburg, I would like to comment on the current situation in Syria, which is a topic the President will raise in his meeting with Russian President Putin.

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Sharing only because CTH readers have a more thorough understanding than most; and we are entering a phase of extreme consequence.

Donald Trump doesn’t bluff.

Bluffing is for those who accept they may or may not win.  The outcome is based on an unpredictable response from the opponent.

In business or in life, go review the decades of available information and you will see that Donald Trump, now President Trump, doesn’t bluff.  It’s one of the reasons he so openly owns the downsides.  It’s also the reason he has never engaged in the stock market.

President Trump controls outcomes.

Donald Trump the person, doesn’t wait for an entity, ally or opponent to enter his orbit. He greets them at the perimeter.   Trump doesn’t sit with his back to the door, he positions to see all upon entrance.   Donald Trump doesn’t try to hide his interest, he’s quite open about any engagement he is focused upon.

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Exactly as predicted.  President Trump is aboard AF1 headed to the EU.  After discussions with the President this morning, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley delivers prepared remarks  at the United Nations on the topic of North Korea’s continued military escalation.

Her full remarks are below.   Note she discusses speaking with President Trump this morning about trade with China.  Specifically note her comments about trade:

[02:59] “We have other methods of addressing those who threaten us, and of addressing those who supply the threats; we have great capabilities in the area of trade.  President Trump has spoken repeatedly about this, I spoke with him at length about it this morning.”

“There are countries that are allowing, even encouraging, trade with North Korea, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.  Such countries would also like to continue their trade arrangements with the United States, that’s not gonna happen.  Our attitude on trade changes when countries do not take international security threats seriously.”

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For those who cannot see the multi-dimensional strategy here, an approach assembled for years in the aggregate and fine-tuned in the last several weeks, President Trump is reinforcing our prior analysis of his strategy:

A day before he meets face-to-face with Xi Jinping, President Trump is highlighting the enabler to North Korea.  President Trump is smartly setting up a spotlight for the entire world to see who is creating the problem, China.

President Trump will never start a military war because it’s antithetical to his entire constitution.  However, within the field of economic combat – watch out.  Not only will Trump engage in economic warfare, he’s built an armory for decades, he’s positioned to win against any opponent.  As such, the long-term adversary in this equation is not North Korea, it’s China.

To understand the longer and larger strategy, we must first remember the underpinning of all leverage, economics.  Every single aspect of national wealth and national security boils down to economics.  The true economic adversary to the United States is China.

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